North West Regional Organised Crime Unit notice re Sextortion e-mail alert
Sextortion e-mail alert
We’ve seen an increase in reports of sextortion e-mails in the North West this week with just over 200 reports made to Action Fraud in the last week nationally.
Sextortion scams are a type of phishing attack whereby people are coerced to pay a BitCoin ransom because they have been threatened with sharing video of themselves visiting adult websites.
These scams often appear to be credible because they provide seemingly plausible technical details about how this was achieved, and the phish can sometimes also include a password used by the recipient.
The current campaign threatens that if the victim does not provide a payment within a specific timeframe (payments usually ranging from $1,000 to $4,000), which is requested into a bitcoin wallet, then a compromising video will be shared to all their contacts and social media channels.
If you recieve an e-mail like this, here’s what to do.
• Do not reply or click on any of the links in the email. You can report the email to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk/report-phishing.
• Don’t be tempted to make the Bitcoin payment. Doing so may encourage more scams as the fraudster will know they have a ‘willing customer’.
• If you have made the Bitcoin payment, you should report it to your local police force by calling 101.
• If the email includes a password you still use then change it immediately.
• For more information, visit: actionfraud.police.uk/sextortion